THE NEW NEIGHBOR THING: How Good Neighbors Can Affect Your Property Values

Since the completion of my new home 4 years ago I've been increasingly aware of the importance of good neighbors, their care and upkeep of their home(s) and how that can affect me.

I grew up in a nice neighborhood and my family owned our home for more than 30 years. We had neighbors come and go to the east 6 times and a new home built on the west and it change out once. We had great neighbors, some mediocre and a couple of crappy ones. You cherish a good neighbor and try and ignore those that your rather want to go away.

But we had almost 3 acres at home and here I have a city lot. I've been very lucky here so far, but after losing a good neighbor here last year (and the new military guy who bought that house has been great as well) the house is now up for sale again since the military neighbor has been given a 60 day requirement to head off on a new assignment.

I hear (even in my neighborhood) about some of the neighbor problems that exist. I've heard realitors discussing how crappy neighbors can adversely affect all......

Any input out there from your experiences with either good or bad neighbors and how that had a bearing on your property values and your use and enjoyment of your place?

You already know, we think, about our experiences with a bad neighbour and how by their antics ( and hatred of us being gay) we had to keep dropping our house price til we sold at 150 thousand below our original price and the prices of other homes selling on our block. It wiped us out.

Housing prices is an area of research my firm has been involved in for about 15 years.

You're right. Quality of neighbors is among the top ten predictors of sale price for existing homes. Schools, proximity to jobs and major transportation corridors and security never budge from the top 3. But neighbors is always between 4th and 7th place. This is out of 15 factors that have a +2% or better impact on price.

With sincere sympathy for Meninlove's experience, in most areas with population of at least about 75-thousand gay neighbors has a neutral to positive price impact. Interestingly, it's about the same effect as Asian neighbors. The numbers don't come to mind so I won't SWAG.

I currently have great neighbors on one side and horrible ones on the other. They've both been in place as long as I've been here - 10 years. Gay guy in the fitness industry, very nice. The other side is an alcoholic couple prone to loud and physical fights. Thank Heaven, she just moved out and filed a really nasty divorce suit against him. (No, Cali divorces are not mandatorily uncontested.) Hope that when they move I see a nice pop in the value of my house.

My parents have been in the same house for over 30 years. One of our long time neighbors next to us decided to pack up and retire out of state. Didn't sell the house though. He turned it into a rental. And that's when things went downhill. I can't say that it affected the property value. This all happened back in the late 90's when real estate was starting to boom again. But having renters come and go affected the quality of life for everyone on the street.

Unfortunately, our neighbor didn't go a good job of screening tenants and we had more bad renters than good ones living next door. The last tenants were probably the worst. It was this sketchy family that was running a farm of foster kids. It's a 4 bedroom house but they managed to pack in 5 or 6 kids in there. Plus, they had some guy living in a camper in the driveway. Seriously, what the fuck?

Anyway, these foster parents pretty much let their kids run around wild and didn't keep them in check. They would just go around destroying people's yards and vandalizing property. We all called the cops on them numerous times.

Finally after a year or so, we managed to get a hold of our neighbor and told him what was up. He seemed surprised. But very nonchalant about it also. When we threatened legal action, he got off his ass and flew back in town. When he checked out his property, it was totally destroyed inside. The carpet was torn up, there were holes in the wall, the swimming pool was a mess, and more. So he evicted them. Yay!

After he fixed up his property, he said he had enough of being a landlord. He put his house up for sale. Thankfully, a very nice couple with two kids bought it and moved in. They're very quiet and considerate. And my parents have been able to relax ever since.

So the lesson here is if your neighbor is gonna turn his house into a rental, make sure you have his contact info and keep it current. Also, know your rights. Most cities have specific laws regarding noise and public disturbance. And often times, the landlord/owner is liable when tenants break certain laws.

xrichx saidMy parents have been in the same house for over 30 years. One of our long time neighbors next to us decided to pack up and retire out of state. Didn't sell the house though. He turned it into a rental. And that's when things went downhill. I can't say that it affected the property value. This all happened back in the late 90's when real estate was starting to boom again. But having renters come and go affected the quality of life for everyone on the street.

The house next to mine has always been a rental. But in the 45+ years, we have never had a problem. Being in the DC area and the rental being so high, the renters have mostly been high military officers. My veggie garden separates the two houses and I always offer the tenants free pickings from the garden....there is way more than we ever need.....so that breaks the ice and makes for good relations.

Our whole end of the steet gets along really well. We now have a whole new crop of kids.....9 girls and 1 boy....until the renters next door just moved and took their 3 girls.

I live in a large suburban planned development that's relatively new and surrounded by established neighborhoods and it's fairly convenient to everything. It's beautiful with lot's of common areas trees, and such. However, when I see the kids dressed in their hip hop clothing. Cript (the gang) proclamations written when there was wet cement, and teenagers walking down the street rapping about killing people when I'm passing with my dogs. I can't help but wonder if they didn't have a hand in my neighborhood's 60 break ins in 2007. So yes, I'd say parents who don't monitor their kids are our bad neighbors, and investors who lied on their closing statements stating that they'd be owner occupants are the scum of the earth as their tenants lack of upkeep up their homes definitely bring down our property values.

Runninchlt saidI live in a large suburban planned development that's relatively new and surrounded by established neighborhoods and it's fairly convenient to everything. It's beautiful with lot's of common areas trees, and such. However, when I see the kids dressed in their hip hop clothing. Cript (the gang) proclamations written when there was wet cement, and teenagers walking down the street rapping about killing people when I'm passing with my dogs. I can't help but wonder if they didn't have a hand in my neighborhood's 60 break ins in 2007. So yes, I'd say parents who don't monitor their kids are our bad neighbors, and investors who lied on their closing statements stating that they'd be owner occupants are the scum of the earth as their tenants lack of upkeep up their homes definitely bring down our property values.

Good lord, you need to organize a community watch program. Develop a relationship with your police dept. Have community events to bind the neighbors.

Our street has a 4th of July parade for the little kids. And this area of town has an Easter parade for the kids.

-Trappman: overstocked cattle, they broke through the fences and ruined our plum orchard. A few assaults. One of them tried to run me over, it got plead out to endangerment. We got into the paper for 'cow napping' . Under Arizona law it is lawful to hold cattle for damage to property, 'pay up or we get steaks'.. well, sorta.

-Orsornio: adverse possession land dispute. We ended up buying her out, then we got into a fight with the county because they had turned the corner of the property into a wide corner. We forced them to put in the stop sign and fix the bloody intersection.

-Klump: land dispute, they tried to run open range cattle through our gate after somehow swindling the county to fence 4,000 acres of privately owned land so they could run their cattle on it. Open range cattle can wander, they can't be driven onto others' land.

-Newman: land dispute, they tried to fence off an easement after they sold it to us as part of a sale. Litigation pending.

-Harper: started as a land dispute, it has devolved into harassment and the cops and getting annoyed. Litigation pending.

-Mr Dipshit: started with us catching him trespassing on a rancher's land that our gun club adopted, has since devolved into land dispute (what a shocker) by him trying to close off an easement by piling crap in it; shooting mail boxes, false reports and harassment. We already got him fired once for running stop signs in a company vehicle. Boo hoo.